HGV restrictions on Forth Bridge extended to Mid-March

A phased reintroduction of HGVs will start on Thursday night to allow up to 600 HGVs over northbound, though a restrictions will remain in place for a month more than previously forecast to allow repairs to continue

Heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) will be allowed to travel across the Forth Road bridge in a phased reintroduction from Thursday though restrictions will remain in place until mid-March.

HGVs have been banned from travelling over the Forth Road Bridge following the discovery of a structural fault in December which closed the bridge to all traffic for almost three weeks.

The bridge was reopened to cars and vans on December 23 though restrictions remain in place for HGVs.

The bridge operator, Amey has previously estimates the bridge would report to HGV traffic by mid-February.

However structural monitoring systems put in place to detail the behaviour of the bridge since strut repair works began show second phase of the repair work needs to be completed in full before the bridge can fully reopen to HGVs.

The phased reintroduction of HGV traffic beings tonight, and between 11pm and 4am daily up to 600 HGVs will be permitted to cross the bridge northbound, depending on weather.

A dedicated HGV lane and “stacking area” is being introduced to manage traffic flow across the bridge, while traffic signals will release the vehicles on to the bridge at a rate of one every 30 seconds.

The Road Haulage Association has called on the Scottish Government to provide “some kind of compensation package” as the industry is “bearing the brunt” of traffic limitations.

Transport Minister Derek Mackay said: “The information from the monitoring equipment is providing a detailed picture of how the bridge is behaving to inform our decision-making and modelling.

“We will not take any decision which could risk damaging the bridge or compromising safety, so we have taken the decision to push back the reopening of the bridge to HGVs to allow time for phase two of the repair work to be complete, with additional time added as contingency due to the effects of the weather.

“The expert engineering advice we have received indicates that with phase two of the works complete, the bridge will have sufficient strength to cope with normal loading of HGVs alongside other traffic.

“Every effort is being made to carry out the repair work as quickly as is possible.

“When the phase two strengthening works are complete, the bridge will reopen to HGVs with no restrictions.”